Cable. Balanced/un-balanced

[Guest bugmenot]

Thanks, J

 

I've never come across the Rane version in real life cables, though it makes sense I guess, since balanced inputs should only care about voltage diference between pins 2 and 3. Any idea why this pseudo balanced version is less common?

[p.k.roberts]

There's seems to be a discrepancy between the Rane and Soundcraft docs posted here. For Unbalanced TS jack to male XLR connections, Rane says (diagram 13):

 

TS Tip <--> XLR pin 2

TS Sleeve <--> XLR pin 3

XLR pin 1 connects only to cable shield

 

And Souncraft says:

 

TS Tip <--> XLR pin 2

TS Sleeve <--> XLR pins 3 and 1

 

Can anyone here sort this out for me?

 

You're not quite comparing like with like. If you look at the diagrams carefully, you'll see that Rane are using twin core screened cable and Soundcraft are using single core screened cable. To make the system work, the signal must be presented across pins 2 and 3 of the input XLR and to make the screen or shield more effective it needs to be earthed. These conditions are met by both methods. I suppose that the Rane system could, under some circumstances, help to reduce earth loops, but in my experience the Soundcraft method is more common.